Sean MacLeod Returns with “Cool Charisma”; A Shimmering Slice of Indie Pop Brilliance

The following feature is now included in our online magazine which is also available in print.

Issue #4

If you’ve been anywhere near Dublin’s indie scene over the past few decades, the name Sean MacLeod will ring a few nostalgic bells. A founding member of the much-loved Cisco, MacLeod helped shape a distinctly Irish flavor of jangly, melodic pop that blended the sincerity of folk with the confidence of classic rock. And now, with his latest single Cool Charisma out in October 2025, he shows his skill at writing classic pop hooks hasn't faded whatsoever.

Cool Charisma perches on a sheeny wave of glistening guitar hooks and hookiness that lodges in the brain, the type of tune that should be background to some late-summer montage — windows rolled down, city lights whizzing past, and a tune that wouldn't quit your head. Sheeny indie pop with substance, constructed from a bouncy call-and-response hook that's a serotonin fix for anybody who loves melody-apologetic songwriting.

There's something inherently timeless to MacLeod's music, but not retro or nostalgic. His music touches the core of the legends — The Beatles, The Beach Boys, and Motown — but interprets them with a contemporary sensibility that's intelligent rather than derivative. He swaddles warmth and wit in his words, layering hope with questions regarding meaning and identity. The melodies bring you in; the lyrics keep you there.

MacLeod's background informs his work. As a hub figure for Cisco, he cut with U2's former producer Paul Barrett and saw the band achieve local success and international acclaim with their album No. 1. Although Cisco eventually went under, MacLeod continued on his own, cutting multiple solo albums and developing his sound into something highly personal. With each release, his next moved further into revealing yet another aspect of his musical expertise — half classicist, half experimenter, half philosopher.

If you listen to Cool Charisma, you can sense the layers peeling away in the moment. Under its glossy exterior lies something reflective, nearly otherworldly, as if MacLeod is posing questions about what charm is, precisely, in an age of image and diversion. The groove is catchy, but there's always something more simmering beneath the surface — a rhythm that has become the signature of his songcraft.

It's easy to envision Cool Charisma cozied up in the same batch as acts like Crowded House, The Shins, or Belle and Sebastian — music that loves melody and message together. There's something in there too that's reminiscent of retro movie energy, something that would slide readily into a coming-of-age film or a bittersweet romantic comedy. Imagine High Fidelity but in contemporary Dublin, or the golden-painted optimism of Almost Famous reproduced under Irish skies.

And there is more to come. MacLeod will be putting out New Start in Spring 2025 — an innovative era-mapping album — and the experimental piece We Don't See What That We Don't See, which demonstrates his continued curiosity and reluctance to stay in one groove of genre. That ability to challenge himself, to balance pop urgency with more considered deliberation, is part of the reason that his work is so compelling.

Sean MacLeod doesn't sound in this case like a man in pursuit of trends, or of clocks. He sounds like a man contented in the work of creation itself — still inquisitive, still on the prowl for that magic chorus, still penning songs that sound like they're good for your bones. Cool Charisma is not another album single; it's evidence that pop, when crafted correctly, can still be magic.

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